Road Management

Forest and Fish regulations now require
landowners to develop a plan for road management that avoids the
potential of slope failure and unwanted sedimentation runoff before obtaining
harvest permits. Below are some informational links that expand
on Road Management and Abandonment Plan (RMAP), and provide resources
for implementing such plans.

Forest Road Maintenance Video Set

The Forest Road Maintenance video set was originally produced in 2002 by the USDA Forest Service, Technology and Development Center, San Dimas, California in Cooperation with Federal Highways Administration. The VHS video tapes were converted by the Rural Technology Initiative to digital video and are now available for download or to view over the Internet.

A visually pleasing overview of how the road and environment
interact with each other. This introduction to maintenance
of low volume roads highlights several issues that benefit
from proper maintenance activities, including water temperature,
fish habitat and aggregate surfacing loss. (18 minutes)

Learn to quickly identify what the road is "saying".
This segment focuses on understanding what the condition of
the road is and providing insights on how to proactively avoid
costly repairs by properly addressing the road in its current
condition. (16 minutes)

Properly maintained roads require an understanding of what
is happening beyond the road surface. Considering the natural
functions before beginning maintenance operations can help
minimize significant impacts to the road. (16:30 minutes)

This provides comprehensive instructions for correctly constructing
and maintaining ditches, culverts and various surface cross
drains. Highlighted in this video are surface cross drains
such as rolling dips, earthen water bars and interceptor dips.
(16 minutes)

Heeling the Ditch

Pulling the Ditch

Maintaining Surface Cross Drains

Rolling Drain Dips

Interceptor Dips

Earthen Water Bars

Open-Top Drainage Devices

The USDA Forest Service has developed this
information for the guidance of it employees, its contractors,
and its cooperating Federal and State agencies, and is not
responsible for the interpretation or use of this information
by anyone except its own employees.

The use of trade, firm, or corporation
names in this video is for the information and convenience
of the viewer, and does not constitute an endorsement by the
Department of Agriculture for any product or service to the
exclusion of others that may be suitable.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has produced
a manual called "Fish Passage Design at Road Culverts" for
the design of permanent new, retrofit, or replacement road
crossing culverts. Click
here for the pdf (Adobe
Acrobat Reader is needed to view this file).

Road Related Software:

Pegger:
A road layout extension program to provide computerized
road pegging is available for download.

CulSed:
A new decision support tool for cross drain culvert design
developed by research assistants and staff at the RTI.
A free working product will be available in 2003.

Road Management and Abandonment Plan Research:

The nature of the economic impacts from RMAPs and the
associated road upgrade costs are different for Eastside
landowners compared to the Westside. For information on
the economic impacts of RMAP in Eastern Washington, click
here. For Western Washington, click
here.